Pumpkin Seeds 2 Ways

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It will be Samhain the day I publish this post and one of the best ways to celebrate the sabbat is by eating food associated with it. This includes pumpkin seeds. If you carve a pumpkin then you are going to have a lot of pumpkin seeds anyways, so why not make a yummy snack with them? My favorite way to make my pumpkin seed is with cinnamon sugar, though salt and pepper is really good too.

I have to admit that these aren't recipes that I tend to measure, but I kind of have ratios for everything. These both are also household favorites. Once we are done carving we will chill out on the couch and watch some movies while snacking on the seeds. The great thing about pumpkin seeds is that they have such a light flavor that you can flavor them with almost anything! If you make these make sure to share them and tag me!!

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What I Learned While Baking Cheesecake

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This past week happened to hold my birthday and I decided I wanted a cheesecake for my birthday

cake. Not a no-bake cheesecake, but a true New York-style cheesecake. This was also my first attempt. Sadly it didn't work out quite as well as I would have liked, but that means it was a learning experience. As expressed in the extremely underrated Disney movie Meet the Robinsons "From failure, you learn. From success...  Not so much." I also figured that I could share what I learned with you so that maybe you can avoid making the same mistakes. Knowledge is an invaluable tool. Even if you have made multiple cheesecakes, maybe there is something you didn't think of. Also if you have more tips then leave them in the comments below or tweet them at me at @AWitchyMama2020.

My Top 10 Family-Friendly Spooky Movies for Samhain

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If you are anything like me then you probably love to get your family together on the couch, cuddle up, and watch a movie together; and when it's the holidays I tend to put on a seasonal movie. I compiled a list of my top 10 movies to watch during the Samhain season, and I wanted to share them with you. Not all of these movies are directly related to Samhain sure, but they still hold the spirit of creepiness within them. I would also like to add that these aren't really in any particular order, except for the last 3.

My Pumpkin Cake Recipe

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I love anything and everything pumpkin and pumpkin spice (except for pumpkin spice lattes ironically).

I also love to make cakes. So I figured that I should mix the two together and made some pumpkin cake. I took a basic pumpkin bread recipe and tweaked it to make it slightly more like a cake. The recipe can make a two-layer cake that is 9 inches across or a three-layer cake that is 8 inches across. I chose to frost mine with cream cheese frosting, and it was delicious, though I'm sure a buttercream could be just as good. It is a rather dense cake, but I still think it has a nice texture, quite rich. It also has a nice pumpkin flavor, with the spices complementing it well and not overpowering it. I know cakes normally ask for oil, but I just prefer the texture that butter gives cakes over the oily texture. Plus it's a little healthier... I think... probably not.

This recipe is also important to me as it is my first recipe. Obviously, I'm still learning how to best type

them up but I think it came out pretty good. I'm also still learning how to come up with my own recipes, but it is something I have loved to do since I was little. They tended to be hit or miss. One day I'll use recipe cards, but today is not that day. One thing I see a lot in recipes that drive me crazy is when it says it is a 4 step recipe, but each step has like 4 steps in it. I have decided that would not be a thing with my recipes. I will separate each step so that you get a better estimate of how much work a recipe will be. Plus it helps me keep track of what I have and haven't done easier. Another big thing for me is measurements. When I bake I measure every ingredient to make sure that there is no room for error. Any time I have tried to just throw stuff together it ends in sadness.

If you bake this cake share it, along with what frosting you paired with it, and tag me!

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It's October! + Halloween Haul

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October is absolutely my favorite month out of the year. It has so much going for it; up north it is sweater weather (the best weather), it has my birthday in it, and it has my favorite holiday, Samhain (Halloween), the air is crisper, there is pumpkin spice everything, and my house smells like cinnamon. It may be basic, but I don't care. I also get to shop at my favorite seasonal store, Spirit Halloween.

I have loved Samhain since I was a kid. Back then it was a day to get dressed up and run door to door

collecting candy. Now that I'm older I tend to dress up and take any kids in the family out trick or treating. Except for this year. This will be the first year that I have a baby of my own. Sadly with the state of the world at the moment, we won't be going anywhere. My plan instead is to curl up with Cora and Cody and have a movie marathon (check back later this month to see my list of favorite family-friendly Halloween movies) with candy, popcorn, and other sweets. We don't really have costumes but we will be matching, hopefully. If the burn ban is lifted I also plan to have a bonfire to honor those who have passed.

I finally got to go Halloween shopping, which was so much fun. We loaded up into the car and headed

to Spirit Halloween. I wondered around with Cody and Cora and looked at all of the animatronics. I was slightly worried that Cora would be scared, mainly that she would get startled, but neither happened. She just looked up at the giant decorations and laughed her beautiful laugh. I ended up picking up the "Elm Street" sign and the Beetlejuice shot glass as my birthday gifts for myself, especially since I'm turning 21. We then went to Walmart to pick up the rest of our Halloween stuff. I had been planning on getting a Halloween book for Cora so as you can see I grabbed one that looked cute. There are a few things I got that aren't pictured, mainly because I forgot to put them with everything else, which are two bags of spider webbing, a shirt for me, a shirt for Cody, and some leggings. Overall, we had a good time.

This isn't as long of a post as I normally would post, but I have a good excuse. The recipe I want to share is my own and I want those to have their own post, so keep an eye out for that. This includes the cake recipe that I mentioned on my Facebook and Instagram pages, which you should follow.

Thank you for reading!

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies, 7 Months, and More!

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This month has been quite busy. Fall has finally come and while it is my favorite time of the year it is also an important time for preparation. From preparing for the incoming holidays to preparing for mother nature's worse, there is a lot to do. I have been able to make time to make some oatmeal raisin and some chocolate chip cookies. Plus my little one reached 7 months this month, and there is so much I have learned.

In the past almost 2 years of living where I live I've learned that being stocked on food, water, and wood; is the most important thing. We've lost power and the wood stove is all we had to keep warm. It

does the job sure, but imagine if we weren't prepared. Also when we lose power the water stops running, so bottles water is a good thing to have on hand as well. As for food we just need a lot of dried pasta, beans, and canned veggies. Obviously now I need to have baby food stocked as well. We get meat packs from the butcher and throw those in the freezer and if we lose power for too long we may pack the freezers with snow. Overall, we have pretty much mastered the whole surviving without power thing. We also have been decorating the house, the shelf over the sink is looking the best so far.

With all of the preparation, I didn't have as much of a chance to bake as I would have liked, but I did

[Left] Chocolate Chip [Right] Oatmeal Raisin

get to make a couple different types of cookies. I made oatmeal raisin and chocolate chip. Both came out fantastic. The oatmeal raisin cookies were chewy and delicious. They also didn't last longer than 48 hours. You can find the recipe here. While it doesn't call for it I added some pumpkin spice to them and it was amazing. Be ready for all of the pumpkin next month. I also made some fantastic chocolate chip cookies. They were some simple cookies and they came out really great. It was also nice that they didn't burn, which has been a common problem for me with chocolate chip cookies. Here is the recipe. My fiance really enjoyed them and he is a chocolate chip cookie connoisseur, so do with that information what you will.

A big thing that happened this month was that Cora reached 7 months. It's still insane to me that I'm a parent and I spend every second worrying if I'm making the right choices. My mom told me that a big

part of parenting is worrying and that is how you know you are a good parent. A big thing I was worried about was whether or not Cora was meeting the milestones that I was getting from the doctor's office. I had to take a step back and remind myself, and sometimes you may have to remind yourself, that every child is different. Not every child is going to meet every milestone at exactly the same time. I have seen parents drive themselves crazy because their child wasn't exactly at the point that all of their friends' kids were at that age. It's not worth it. I'm happy that at the moment Cora can hold herself up if you place her in a seated position, but she still struggles with getting there herself. She also has finally figured out how to get cheerios from her tray to her mouth, which is adorable to watch. I can't believe that she is over half a year old. It feels like only yesterday she was a tiny newborn in my arms.

My schedule is about to get very hectic. I'm going to be baking and cooking a lot. As well as shopping. A lot of shopping. I also have a few blog ideas bouncing around my head that I'm trying to figure out the best ways to do them. I hope everyone had a fantastic Mabon. I spent mine decorating for the fall and wishing I had a pumpkin to make pumpkin cookies. That is number one on my shopping list for next month, of course, it's October.

Thank you so much for reading!

Italian Wedding Soup, Apple Turnovers, and More!

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This week I decided to make some Italian wedding soup for the house, as well as Apple Turnovers with a twist.

Soup is easily my favorite type of dish. I suppose it goes hand and hand with my favorite weather being sweater weather. Nothing is better than a warm bowl of soup on a cold day, you can't change my mind.

Sadly the day I made the soup, it was not a cold day, but it tasted really good. Of course, it wasn't my recipe so I had to search for one on Pinterest. Here is where you can find the recipe. It was honestly quite good, but I did make a couple mistakes while making my soup. First, I didn't think to check the recipe and measure the noodles so I just dumped the whole box in. While the soup was good it lost a lot of its brothyness due to the abundance of noodles. The second thing I did was I bought a bag of spinach that was 16 oz when I only needed 8. the size wasn't the problem, it was the fact that I didn't double-check and just dumped it in. So just like with the noodles I had too much spinach. If I could take anything away from my mistakes it would be that I need to slow down and pay attention to measurements a little better. The meatballs were made by hand and were fantastic. I'm not used to making meatballs by myself. It was something that if my mom decided to do by hand she would have me help. I can't wait for Cora to be old enough to help me so she can have those memories too.

Since getting my new-to-me bread pans at a thrift shop I've been dying to make pumpkin bread, so

that's what I did. I made 2 delicious loaves of pumpkin bread. When I came to the decision to make the bread I was unaware that we were out of eggs, but I wasn't going to let something little like a missing ingredient keep me from my pumpkin bread so I pressed on. I searched the internet for egg substitutes, of course I know about the mayo trick but I prefer to use that for savory things, not sweet things. The second thing on the list was applesauce and I thought "why not?" So, I used applesauce instead of eggs and it came out perfect. For anyone wondering, 1/4 cup of applesauce = 1 large egg. Of course, use unsweetened or cut out some of the sugar of whatever you are making or you stand the risk of making whatever it is too sweet. Overall the bread was really good, as pumpkin bread tends to be. Here is the recipe.

To finish off the week I made some apple turnovers, but these weren't any normal apple turnovers.

Instead of using pie crust or puff pastry for the crust, I chose to use canned biscuits. I sadly can't take
the credit for this idea, but for once it didn't come from Pinterest either. The idea came from my Grandmother-in-Law. I was originally just going to make a good old fashioned apple pie, but she mentioned this idea and it sounded good, plus it was easier than making some pie crust from scratch. All I had to do was take each biscuit, roll it out, fill it like I normally would, then bake it in the oven at 350 *F for ~20 minutes. Did they look pretty? Not really. Were they good? Oh yeah. The filling was a simple mixture of granny smith apples, brown sugar, butter, cinnamon, and vanilla. All mixed on the stove on medium-low. 

I think my favorite thing that I made this week was the soup though. It was just so good and I can't wait to make it again in the future. I'm not entirely sure what I'll be cooking or baking next week, but it is sure to at least taste good if it doesn't look pretty. Not everything is about presentation. Especially not food made for your family. Even my ugliest cookies are gone quickly.

Thank you for reading!